Ronga language
Bantu language spoken in southern Africa
Ronga, also known as XiRonga and Xizronga, is a Bantu language spoken in Maputo in Mozambique. It extends slightly into South Africa. The Xizronga language has its own dialects, which are: Xinondzrwana, Xizingili, Xihlanganu, and Xilwandle.
The Swiss philologist Henri-Alexandre Junod seems to have been the first linguist to have studied it, in the late 19th century.
01Phonology
Source:
| Labio-(dental) | Alveolar | Lateral | Post-alveolar | Retroflex | Velar/ | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||
| Nasal | voiced | m | n | nʷ | ɲ | ɲʷ | ŋʷ | ||||||
| breathy | mʱ | nʱ | nʷʱ | ||||||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | tʷ | k | kʷ | |||||||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | |||||||||
| voiced | b | d | dˡʷ | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||||||
| breathy | bʱ | dʱ | ɡʱ | ɡʷʱ | |||||||||
| non-pulmonic | ɓ | ɗ | ɡǂ | ||||||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | p̪f | psʷ | ts | tʃ | tʂ | tʂʷ | ||||||
| aspirated | p̪fʰ | psʷʰ | tsʰ | tʃʰ | tʂʰ | ||||||||
| voiced | b̪v | bzʷ | dz | dʒ | dʐ | dʐʷ | |||||||
| breathy | dʒʱ | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sʷ | ɬ | ɬʷ | ʃ | ʃʷ | |||||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ʐ | ʐʷ | ||||||||
| breathy | vʱ | ɦ | |||||||||||
| Sonorant | voiced | r | l | lʷ | j | w | |||||||
| breathy | wʱ | ||||||||||||
02Alphabet
Its alphabet is similar to that of Tsonga as provided by Methodist missionaries and Portuguese settlers.
| Letter | A | B | C | D | E | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | Ṅ | O | P | R | S | Ŝ | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Ẑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | a | b~β | tʃ | d | e~ɛ | ɡ | h | i | dʒ | k | l | m | n | ŋ | ɔ~o | p | r | s | ʂ | t | u | v | w | ʃ | j | z | ʐ |
| Letter | A | B | By | Ch | D | E | G | H | Hl | I | J | K | L | Lh | M | N | Nʼ | O | P | Ps | R | S | Sv | Sw | T | U | V | Vh | W | X | Xj | Y | Z | Zv | Zw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | a | b~β | b͡ʐ | tʃ | d | e~ɛ | ɡ | h | ɬ | i | dʒ | k | l | ʎ | m | n | ŋ | ɔ~o | p | p͡ʂ | r | s | ʂ | sʷ | t | u | ʋ | v | w | ʃ | ʒ | j | z | ʐ | zʷ |
03Grammar
Ronga is grammatically so close to Tsonga in many ways that census officials have often considered it a dialect; its noun class system is very similar and its verbal forms are almost identical. Its most immediately noticeable difference is a much greater influence from Portuguese, due to being centred near the capital Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques).
04Literature
The first book to be published in Ronga was the Gospel of John translated mainly by Henri Berthoud from the Swiss Romande Mission. It was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1896. Further translation was done by Pierre Loze from Mission Romande (Swiss Romande Mission) and H.L. Bishop (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society), assisted by Jeremia Caetano and Efraim Hely. The New Testament was published in 1903, and the whole Bible was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1923.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ronga language”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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